Thursday, March 31, 2011

Filling in the gaps...

Sometimes I don't blog, comment or even email. It's not that I don't want to, not that other activities get in the way. It's simply because I'm too exhausted to do any of it. I know I always do positive posts, but I feel that it's time I share this big part of my life with you too. To let you know, whether or not you even noticed, why I disappear sometimes.


The fact is I suffer from ME/CFS, although I don't like using the term Chronic Fatigue Syndrom, simply because the name doesn't cover it at all and because of that people often don't take it that seriously. Yes of course, fatigue is the main issue here and I'd be able to do a lot lot more if that part was resolved, but I'd still be stuck with a list of other symtoms such as pain, insomnia, RLS and getting stomach aches from basic foods such as bread.


I wanted to write this because it might help me accept it more. ME is so weird because on the one hand you've been tought that "everyone gets tired and you can't see it on the outside so you're quite lucky" and on the other hand there are few things that can take so many things away from you. That can be very confusing!


For the past few years I've been at home, it started in high school and I had to quit because of it. Some of you might remember me blogging about the art school course and making the cuts to go to art school full time. However those posts stopped soon after and I could never bring myself to explain that it was because I completely burned myself down in the first 3 weeks and had to quit the whole thing. So I just never mentioned it again.


There have been a lot of weird reactions. People get afraid or unsure and start avoiding you or they think that you're just making up excuses when you say you're too tired to meet with them. Which could not be further from the truth. Being at home has made me more isolated than I could ever have imagined(let alone still in my teens), I would never ever try to shut out even more people.
Then there are people who think I'm lucky and can just do whatever I feel like, but I'd give quite a lot to be able to work or study. Besides having little energy means I don't have much energie for fun things either, it's not a holiday.


Maybe I'm not clear enough to most people, when I see someone I tend to get excited and don't like to tell them about everything that sucks, but just enjoy the moment. Downside of that is that they never hear from me what is really going on.


I usually stay positive and try to enjoy the little things. There are some great things I probably wouldn't have had if it wasn't for ME: blogging, Etsy and some great people I met online because of it, including a truly amazing friend.
I'm really thankful that I've found such a great community online, yes you guys! Blogging really is one of the things I love the most and I thought you should know that I'd do much more if I could. But sometimes I can't bring myself to do it, can't focus or just don't have anything to say because nothing new has happened in my life.
Anyway when I'll feel better my blogging will get better and more frequent too.


I'm sure some of you out there will have the same thing, although I suppose everyone's situation is a bit different.
In case you don't have it yourself but know someone who does I have a request on their behalf. Like me, they might find it too hard to confront their friends with the bigger picture, but I promise that if you stick with them you will see first hand that you bring them lots of joy and they do think of you as a true friend, when you get sad because they cancel on you, just think about how they are feeling having to cancel one of very few fun appointments, then you will find that it's not that you don't matter to them, it is in fact that you mean the world to them!

P.S. If you have any questions, tips etc. you know where to find me;)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pretty Paintings

The series of paintings I will be posting below mostly have owls in them, only the last one has pigeons but it's really pretty.

They're all made by Jos de Mey who's really good at these optical illusions. Think of him as a realistic Escher. And I suppose he must have been an owl lover too. Enjoy!







Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Femme Magazine #1

Recently I was approached by the lovely Cassidy from Bisous Mon Amour, if I wanted to participate in her new online magazine. It was founded and made at top speed and turned out great.

It's a magazine about both inspiration and staying true to yourself. It is filled with lovely photography, art, reviews and articles, including a movie review by yours truly.

So check it out here!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Marvelous Music

I'm too tired to do a proper post today, but there is a song I just found this week and wanted to share with you in case you hadn't heard it. It's from the new BMW commercial.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Roses

Yesterday evening I bought a bunch of roses. They were already near their peak, so won't last too long, but they're gorgeous and match my home so well. Plus this was the greatest opportunity so far to let the macro lens work it's magic.



Saturday, March 26, 2011

Just a Little Update

Today I thought of a new hair style that I absolutely love! (The bow actually came from a bottle of Baileys I bought during the holidays, shhh!)


Here's a little picture I tried to take with the self timer, but didn't exactly work out. Somehow I like it though.


And now onto some great great news! I finally got me some Blowfish shoes! I never saw them anywhere where I live, not even online. I was just getting ready to order some from an international site when I got an email for a coupon you could buy for 50% off, so I checked and tah-dah: they had Blowfish!


A few days later they were delivered to my home and turned out to be a perfect fit. I am so extremely happy to finally own them. I waited years and years for this and I'm pleased to say they're every bit as good as I hoped.


A little while ago I popped into a bookstore to see if they had any secondhand Murakami's (which they never have, I guess people just can't bear to part with them,) when I somehow gathered a bunch of books.

  • the Thirteenth Tale Diane Setterfield Book review coming soon
  • Holidays on Ice David Sedaris I just love David Sedaris, usually listen to his audiobooks, so this will be my first time actually reading it
  • On Beauty Zadie Smith Zadie Smith has long been on my to-read list, so when I spotted this one it was a no-brainer
  • Small Island Andrea Levy Just caught my eye
  • the China Lover Ian Buruma Came across this one a bunch of times and always seemed nice


Also, I bought glitter nail polish on sale and made an electric blue/neon pink combo, which happened to match the Skip Bo cards. I've been playing that a lot lately, it has to be one of my favorite games.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to catch up on my 30 days of lists and maybe list some owls. What are your plans?

Monday, March 21, 2011

Marvelous Music

You may think: What the hell is wrong with your picture?!
Well, I have an explanation for that. Everyday a channel airs an hour of Brazilian music videos. As of a few months ago I've been a regular viewer/listener and quickly grew to love the music. There was one song that was stuck in my head for months, however I could not figure out who the artist was, after months of waiting the song came on again, in my desperate attempt to find it I took this picture for future reverence.


A few days later I finally heard them say the band was Papas da Lingua and now I've found the song too!
I was so excited when I finally did it! And now I listen to it whenever I want instead of humming it to myself. This is the song:


There's also another song that's really good, but I haven't found yet. If you happen to recognize this singer, please let me know!


Saturday, March 19, 2011

In the mail...

It's been a great week for me mail-wise. Just in is the package I won on Deer Little Fawn's Treasure hunt. I won the grand prize: this awesome cupcake embroidery! along with a goodie bag:)


As you can see it's filled with lots of lovely items. And I will be baking some really cute easter cookies with those cookie cutters. Oh, and the green pen smells like apples;)


It soon turned out that my cat could have a little fun with the fairy wand too. (I know she looks cute there, but not an hour after she scratched me on the lip. I love her though and you can't stay mad at that face forever.)


Another recent parcel contained these sweets that were sent to me by Laura form a Daisy Chain Dream. They're all foreign sweets and all delicious! Plus they were accompanied by a beautiful owl card.


Which brings me to the last item, which is a necklace I ordered off Etsy. I have a thing for bird jewelry (not only limited to owls), had a few earrings but not yet a necklace and when i saw this one at the Elephant Nest I immediately fell in love with it. The shop owner also has a lovely blog too, check it out here.


P.S. These pictures were all taken with my recently acquired macro lens. I am so excited about it. This was the first day I shot a lot of pictures. There are more to come soon, of other items, food and I'll hopefully be listing new items in the shop too.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Support Japan buy a bookmark

Of course you've all heard about what happened in Japan. Since they could use all the help they can get I thought I'd try to make a teensy little difference too by donating some money from my kokeshi bookmarks. There are 5 colors to choose from and for each one you buy Japan gets 4 dollars.


On April 1st I'll let you guys know how much money was raised this way.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Lovely Movies

Taking Woodstock is one of the greatest movies I've seen in a while. To recreate such a phenomenal event and have everyone look like they're from that time is quite an achievement. They have worked closely with the people that made the actual festival happen, which is probably one of the reasons why it turned out so well.


It often helps when great directors and actors get together and I have to say this is quite a cast: Emile Hirsch(from Into the Wild), Imelda Staunton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Liev Schreiber, Eugene Levy and you may or may not recognize him from the photo above: Paul Dano, "the brother" of Little Miss Sunshine. The lead actor Demitri Martin did a very good job and the director was great, but honestly what else would you expect from Ang Lee?


The dvd comes with amazing extras! A lot of really interesting background info and interviews.
From any historical movies this is probably my favorite.

When you see the story you realise how amazing it is that they made Woodstock happen. So much could've stopped the whole thing, and I'm so glad that didn't happen. Even though I often don't like the crowds on festivals and drugs isn't really my thing, I really wish I could've been there. And then to think how cheap it was to get in?!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Craft Swaps

In these past few weeks I signed up for 2 craft swaps. The first is on A Giraffe in a Scarf and is already closed for entries. The swap partners have been assigned and I already know what I'm gonna make, but will wait to tell you anything until it is received by the person it's for.


There also is a swap over at Artichoke Designs, that one however is still open for entries. I have yet to be assigned to a partner so if you sign up now we might even get paired up!

I will keep you updated on what I'm sending and what is sent to me, although it might take some time before I get to post any pictures.

Have you enrolled in any swaps lately? And are there any other ones I should know of?

Saturday, March 5, 2011

30 Days of Lists #5

Just finished today's list for "Weekend Goals".


Join 30 days of lists here.

Friday, March 4, 2011

30 Days of Lists 1-4

It's a little late maybe, but I joined 30 Days of Lists today. It works like this:
Every day you hear what list you're ought to make. You make it. And hopefully post it on your blog and or flickr.


I was only three days behind so did a little catching up today. The pictures may be small but you can see them bigger and clearer on flickr, that way you can read the actual list;) I'll post a link under each picture, or you can just click on the picture itself.




I'm really enjoying this project and I hope you will too. Let me know if you joined as well, ok? Because I'd love to read your lists too.
The plan is to stick with the entire month and hopefully post all lists too, however... I still want to keep doing my regular posts, so you might just get a batch at a time, like today. We'll see.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

World Book Day

Today is World Book Day and because I love books and of course am in the business of bookmarks I thought I'd do a little 1 day sale (or 2, since with the time difference it might still be on tomorrow).


Starting now you can get 20% off when you use the code: WORLDBOOKDAY2011

Enjoy!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...